Ship/Member: Mingyu/Minghao Major Tags: N/A Additional Tags: Idolverse, Lovers to Coworkers, referenced Minghao/OC (or pick your favorite of his Chinese celeb friends) Permission to remix: Yes
slides in extremely late. i'm not sure how well this fits the prompt... i'm not sure what this is at all... but i was so intrigued by this combination of quotes!
***
When Minghao comes back to Seoul, he is in love.
It takes Mingyu a while to notice. First, for the obvious reasons: Jun and Minghao have to quarantine, and then there are the rehearsals for the shows they can’t participate in and the end-of-the-year concert itself. And beyond that, Mingyu’s learned to respect the space Minghao asked for, learned it so well that it’s become comfortable. Minghao wouldn’t bristle anymore if he caught him looking too long, just give him a quizzical little smile. But Mingyu doesn’t look too long.
Except in a break during the rehearsals for the GDAs, when he catches Minghao curled up against the mirror, grinning at his phone. He’s lit from within; love animates him. He’s always been painfully slow at typing, but his fingers are flying. Mingyu knows the impulse, remembers what it’s like to look around and need to tell someone everything you see, as if that could bring them to you. Lost in thought, Minghao thumbs his lower lip, feeling the curve of his own happiness.
Don’t touch your mouth if you haven’t washed your hands, Mingyu thinks crossly. He’s pretty sure he’s told Minghao that before, but it didn’t stick.
>>
In the car coming back from the GDAs, Minghao’s on his phone again the second the window rolls up and he stops waving to fans. He doesn’t bother hiding his screen from Mingyu; they both know he can’t read a word on it. There’s not even a telling emoji saved by the other person’s name.
“What did you do on New Year’s?” Mingyu asks, to fill the silence. The manager who’s driving has put on some moody indie music he actually does like, but it’s nowhere near enough.
Not looking up, Minghao shrugs. “I called my parents. And some other people. That’s about it.”
And some other people. No shit. “Why didn’t you go out with Jun-hyung?”
Minghao taps a long finger against the side of his phone case. “What do you want me to say? I didn’t feel like it. Nothing to do with him.”
They’re stalled at what feels like the longest red light in the world, and the indie band is singing about a faithless lover. “I feel bad,” starts Mingyu, “since you were by yourself on your birthday and Christmas…”
Minghao turns to really look at him. He has a terribly open way of looking at people, as if everyone else was hiding behind some kind of film and only he figured out how to peel it away. That is not how he is looking at Mingyu now. “I’m not saying this to be mean, but it just isn’t any of your business. Anyway, I like being by myself.”
He wants so badly to make this a fight, but there’s nothing he can do with another person listening. Minghao is always kind to the staff by default, but he sometimes seems to forget they are there.
Before Mingyu can think of a diplomatic thing to say, Minghao’s phone buzzes and he is thousands of kilometers away.
>>
Mingyu throws away his pride and asks Jun about it.
“Ah.” Jun’s smiling like he’s a little embarrassed for both of them. For all three of them, for being in this situation. “I think if you asked Hao and he didn’t tell you, it’s not for me to say.”
He hadn’t, of course, asked Minghao.
<<
“Why did you post that?” Minghao had demanded, back in May. “You said we were over, so act like it.”
He posted the picture on the group's anniversary because it made him smile. A beautiful morning, dazzling sunlight, Minghao laughing for the first time in days.
“You’re still my best friend,” Mingyu said, and Minghao whitened.
They’d been so mature about it. You weren’t supposed to be able to break up with your bandmate and then keep going like nothing happened, but they’d talked it over. Talked it to death. The whole thing had begun as an accident, an uncontrollable freefall, but he thought they’d pulled off a graceful landing. Still—
“Sometimes it feels like—I don’t know. You’re making this really hard for me. I need to be my own person,” Minghao said, and Mingyu stared.
“You’ve always been your own person,” he said. “Probably more than anyone I know. If you don’t feel that way, I don’t know if I can help you.”
>>
“I’m sorry I was rude to you the other day,” Minghao says. “After the awards,” he clarifies, when Mingyu looks at him uncomprehendingly.
That had been more than a few days ago, but Minghao has always operated on his own sense of time. Besides, he’s been away with Seungcheol and Soonyoung. He must have wanted to wait and say it in person.
“It’s nothing,” he says, offhand, but it’s impossible to brush Minghao off when he wants to make a point.
“I was lonely, but I didn’t want to admit it. I should have just said that.” A deep breath. “Coming back—being back—has been more complicated than I thought it would be. But I want you to know I did miss you. I’m happy to see you again. And I’m sorry I didn’t call.”
He could easily have said I did miss you all. I’m happy to see you all again. It doesn’t start the spark it would have once, when every reunion was like fireworks. After all, they’d both made it clear that they owed each other no special privilege. This is what it’s like, he thinks, to truly be over it. A girl he’d dated in high school got engaged a few months ago; when he saw the announcement, all he felt was a distant pleasure, a pride on her behalf. That is what it will be like.
He should finally broach the question, like Jun assumed he had. But he doesn’t.
[FILL] ...and back again
Major Tags: N/A
Additional Tags: Idolverse, Lovers to Coworkers, referenced Minghao/OC (or pick your favorite of his Chinese celeb friends)
Permission to remix: Yes
slides in extremely late. i'm not sure how well this fits the prompt... i'm not sure what this is at all... but i was so intrigued by this combination of quotes!
***
When Minghao comes back to Seoul, he is in love.
It takes Mingyu a while to notice. First, for the obvious reasons: Jun and Minghao have to quarantine, and then there are the rehearsals for the shows they can’t participate in and the end-of-the-year concert itself. And beyond that, Mingyu’s learned to respect the space Minghao asked for, learned it so well that it’s become comfortable. Minghao wouldn’t bristle anymore if he caught him looking too long, just give him a quizzical little smile. But Mingyu doesn’t look too long.
Except in a break during the rehearsals for the GDAs, when he catches Minghao curled up against the mirror, grinning at his phone. He’s lit from within; love animates him. He’s always been painfully slow at typing, but his fingers are flying. Mingyu knows the impulse, remembers what it’s like to look around and need to tell someone everything you see, as if that could bring them to you. Lost in thought, Minghao thumbs his lower lip, feeling the curve of his own happiness.
Don’t touch your mouth if you haven’t washed your hands, Mingyu thinks crossly. He’s pretty sure he’s told Minghao that before, but it didn’t stick.
>>
In the car coming back from the GDAs, Minghao’s on his phone again the second the window rolls up and he stops waving to fans. He doesn’t bother hiding his screen from Mingyu; they both know he can’t read a word on it. There’s not even a telling emoji saved by the other person’s name.
“What did you do on New Year’s?” Mingyu asks, to fill the silence. The manager who’s driving has put on some moody indie music he actually does like, but it’s nowhere near enough.
Not looking up, Minghao shrugs. “I called my parents. And some other people. That’s about it.”
And some other people. No shit. “Why didn’t you go out with Jun-hyung?”
Minghao taps a long finger against the side of his phone case. “What do you want me to say? I didn’t feel like it. Nothing to do with him.”
They’re stalled at what feels like the longest red light in the world, and the indie band is singing about a faithless lover. “I feel bad,” starts Mingyu, “since you were by yourself on your birthday and Christmas…”
Minghao turns to really look at him. He has a terribly open way of looking at people, as if everyone else was hiding behind some kind of film and only he figured out how to peel it away. That is not how he is looking at Mingyu now. “I’m not saying this to be mean, but it just isn’t any of your business. Anyway, I like being by myself.”
He wants so badly to make this a fight, but there’s nothing he can do with another person listening. Minghao is always kind to the staff by default, but he sometimes seems to forget they are there.
Before Mingyu can think of a diplomatic thing to say, Minghao’s phone buzzes and he is thousands of kilometers away.
>>
Mingyu throws away his pride and asks Jun about it.
“Ah.” Jun’s smiling like he’s a little embarrassed for both of them. For all three of them, for being in this situation. “I think if you asked Hao and he didn’t tell you, it’s not for me to say.”
He hadn’t, of course, asked Minghao.
<<
“Why did you post that?” Minghao had demanded, back in May. “You said we were over, so act like it.”
He posted the picture on the group's anniversary because it made him smile. A beautiful morning, dazzling sunlight, Minghao laughing for the first time in days.
“You’re still my best friend,” Mingyu said, and Minghao whitened.
They’d been so mature about it. You weren’t supposed to be able to break up with your bandmate and then keep going like nothing happened, but they’d talked it over. Talked it to death. The whole thing had begun as an accident, an uncontrollable freefall, but he thought they’d pulled off a graceful landing. Still—
“Sometimes it feels like—I don’t know. You’re making this really hard for me. I need to be my own person,” Minghao said, and Mingyu stared.
“You’ve always been your own person,” he said. “Probably more than anyone I know. If you don’t feel that way, I don’t know if I can help you.”
>>
“I’m sorry I was rude to you the other day,” Minghao says. “After the awards,” he clarifies, when Mingyu looks at him uncomprehendingly.
That had been more than a few days ago, but Minghao has always operated on his own sense of time. Besides, he’s been away with Seungcheol and Soonyoung. He must have wanted to wait and say it in person.
“It’s nothing,” he says, offhand, but it’s impossible to brush Minghao off when he wants to make a point.
“I was lonely, but I didn’t want to admit it. I should have just said that.” A deep breath. “Coming back—being back—has been more complicated than I thought it would be. But I want you to know I did miss you. I’m happy to see you again. And I’m sorry I didn’t call.”
He could easily have said I did miss you all. I’m happy to see you all again. It doesn’t start the spark it would have once, when every reunion was like fireworks. After all, they’d both made it clear that they owed each other no special privilege. This is what it’s like, he thinks, to truly be over it. A girl he’d dated in high school got engaged a few months ago; when he saw the announcement, all he felt was a distant pleasure, a pride on her behalf. That is what it will be like.
He should finally broach the question, like Jun assumed he had. But he doesn’t.
“I’m happy to see you too.”